Well, in 5 boxes to be precise, and this is how it happened. I was trawling the screen looking for a spare engine for my early 1953 LD when this bad girl leapt into my face.
Lambretta LD 150 Mark III, 1958
It was described as an 'unfinished project' and from the way it was laid-out in the advertisement pictures it all looked pretty much there.
I contacted the seller and made him an offer that I hoped he wouldn't refuse. He seemed very genuine and decent and gave me a brief overview of the scoots history. It had originally been imported from Italy to the UK some years ago by the sellers friend. The seller in turn acquired it from him with the hope of doing a full restore. Meanwhile, the weeks, months and years rolled on and before he knows it there comes a wife, new house and the patter of tiny feet. Being a decent chap the seller knows that it is not right to keep this disassembled beauty left abandoned at the back of his unit any longer. So after much soul searching he made that heart-wrenching decision to sell. My hoped for offer was accepted. I hastily made the 250 mile round trip to pay and collect and was very pleased with my purchase.
The seller had clearly started the restoration with some enthusiasm. A lot of the tin work, panels and rims etc had been blasted back to bare metal. Some of it was primed or part filled, and some not. The headset and horn casting were finished in a pale blue colour to a very high quality. There was also quite a lot of new parts present like pedal rubber kits, cables, chrome trims, a new wheel rim, three white wall tyres and a brand new exhaust with copper ring! The pictures you see here were taken by me in my shed and I share them with you in the hope that you can marvel and drool at the boxes of treasure just like I did.
Have you noticed any thing missing yet?
... still not noticed?
Did you get it? Of course it's the leg-shields. Obvious, wasn't it?
It is now my intention to restore this scooter, something I have never done before. I will update this blog as I make progress or hit any snags. Hopefully others might get some useful tips from it and I would love to hear from others who have taken on, or have completed, such a project. Watch this space!
